Greens urge tighter financial disclosure rules

New South Wales Greens MP John Kaye wants politicians who fail to declare their financial interests to face up to five years in jail.

johnkaye.org.au

The New South Wales Greens are calling for sweeping changes to rules about the pecuniary interest register following revelations at the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).

The party wants MPs who fail to declare their financial interests to face up to five years in jail, as well as the loss of their seat.

State Opposition Leader John Robertson has announced similar changes for Labor MPs, but the Greens' John Kaye says his party's proposals are more wide-reaching.

"We want to put real teeth into these disclosures," Mr Kaye said.

"We have jail sentences for those people who deliberately and significantly fail to disclose an income or an asset.

"We also want unexplained changes in asset values to be explained to the people of NSW and we want the full details of every family member to be exposed."

Under the proposal, politicians would also have to declare the financial interests of partners and other family members, and any shareholdings in a private company doing business with state or local government.

Mr Kaye says all politicians should have to abide by them.

"We want this cleaned up now. We expect the Labor party to join with us," he said.

"We don't want to wait around until ICAC brings its report down in the second half of the year.

"The new round of pecuniary interest disclosures that happens at the beginning of July of this year should be under new rules, tougher rules, so that every MP knows from now on that there's no way that corrupt payments can be hidden."

The ICAC inquiry into mining tenders in the Bylong Valley has heard allegations that former Labor minister Eddie Obeid and his associates stood to profit $75 million from inside knowledge about mining tenders provided by former mining minister Ian Macdonald.